Industrial, Work and Organizational Psychology in Asia

Asia houses the largest population (International Energy Agency, 2012) and enjoys the highest nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of all continents (International Monetary Fund [IMF], 2013). Asian countries represent some of the world's largest economies: for example, China (2), Japan (3), India (10), South Korea (15), and Indonesia (16) (IMF, 2013). In terms of business interactions, four Asian cities top the list of global office destinations: Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and Shanghai (CB Richard Ellis, 2011). Indicative of the progressive dependence of the world's business and economy on Asia, the Academy of Management, a leading management academic association, set ‘West Meets East: Enlightening, Balancing, Transcending’ as its 2011 program theme. The same motivation prompted the Academy of Management Journal (AMJ) to call for a special research forum in 2012 featuring ‘West Meets East: New Concepts and Theories’ in an effort to draw the field's attention to emerging issues in the East

Broadening international perspectives on the legal environment for selection

We are pleased that our article (Myors et al., 2008) prompted this most useful set of commentaries. The goal of our article was to highlight similarities and differences in the legal environment for personnel selection across a broad range of countries. Whereas some articles in this journal present a point of view that prompts considerable disagreement and challenge from commentators, our article is largely descriptive, and thus, the role of commentators is to expand upon the perspectives offered in our article rather than to take issue with them. We believe that the commentators have accomplished just that and they offer a most useful supplement to our article

Linking supervisor’s and subordinate’s negative work-family experience: The role of family supportive supervisor behavior

In the past decade, family supportive supervisor behavior (FSSB) has emerged as an important factor that can help employees manage work–family needs. Although the existing literature has documented the benefits of FSSB, we know little about the emerging process of FSSB. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we propose that supervisor engagement in FSSB is influenced by the extent to which the supervisor has sufficient resources for work. This study uses the joint effect of supervisors’ family–work conflict (FWC) and organizational work–family culture to predict the time supervisors spend on core tasks, FSSB, and subordinates’ work–family conflict (WFC), in sequence. Data were collected from paired supervisor–subordinate dyads among 83 supervisors and 276 subordinates. The results indicate that supervisors with high FWC spend more time on core tasks and display less FSSB, which ultimately result in higher subordinates’ WFC, especially in organizations with a lower level of organizational work–family culture. In contrast, supervisors’ FWC does not result in any negative influences on the supervisors themselves or their subordinates at work in organizations with a higher level of organizational work–family culture. Therefore, the theoretical model provides evidence that supervisors’ negative work–family experience cascades down to their subordinates

A multilevel perspective on the relationship between interpersonal justice and negative feedback-seeking behaviour

Drawing on social information processing theory, this study uses a multilevel design to integrate the literature on organizational justice with the literature on feedback-seeking behaviour. Results from a laboratory study with data involving 690 employees showed that individual-level interpersonal justice was related to employee negative feedback-seeking behaviour (NFSB) via the mediation of trust in the supervisor. Multilevel analysis of the follow-up field study with data involving 390 employees from 46 teams confirmed the findings of the laboratory study and indicated that team-level interpersonal justice was associated with NFSB through a supportive climate. Also, team-level supervisor support climate was positively related to individual-level trust in the supervisor. The paper discusses managerial implications of these findings and suggests directions for future research

Business founders' work design and new venture development

This study aims to explain the interplay between business founders' work design and new venture development. Our qualitative research reveals that founders' work design differs in terms of unsettled and settled work. In unsettled work, founders redesign their work to serve the needed changes in their new ventures. In settled work, founders, who develop a commitment to their self-created work, often maintain rather than change their work, regardless of the potentially needed changes in the new ventures. Our findings suggest that founders' work has a subtle structure that results in direct, day-to-day experience that is integral in shaping new ventures

Person-organization and person- supervisor fits: Employee commitments in a Chinese context

The present study simultaneously examined people's perceptions of person–organization (PO) and person–supervisor (PS) fit and related these perceptions to employees' commitments. Three-hundred-and-sixty employee–supervisor dyads from Taiwanese organizations reported about their PO fit and PS fit perceptions. In addition, supervisors reported about their perceptions of fit and guanxi with each of their employees. Results indicated that PO and PS fit perceptions both had an independent and additive relationship with organizational commitment. The link between employee PS fit perceptions and organizational commitment was mediated by commitment to the supervisor. Both employee and supervisor fit perceptions contributed to commitment to the supervisor through their influence on the quality of the leader-member exchange (LMX). Guanxi could not explain additional variance in LMX and supervisor commitment. Implications for theory and practices regarding person–environment fit, commitment, and LMX are discussed. The study findings offered suggestions for a new Theory of Multiple Fits

International Perspectives on the Legal Environment for Selection

Perspectives from 22 countries on aspects of the legal environment for selection are presented in this article. Issues addressed include (a) whether there are racial/ethnic/religious subgroups viewed as "disadvantaged,” (b) whether research documents mean differences between groups on individual difference measures relevant to job performance, (c) whether there are laws prohibiting discrimination against specific groups, (d) the evidence required to make and refute a claim of discrimination, (e) the consequences of violation of the laws, (f) whether particular selection methods are limited or banned, (g) whether preferential treatment of members of disadvantaged groups is permitted, and (h) whether the practice of industrial and organizational psychology has been affected by the legal environmen

Perceived deep-level dissimilarity: Personality antecedents and impact on overall job attitude, helping, work withdrawal, and turnover

The current research extends three research areas in relational demography: considering deep-level dissimilarity in theory building, assessing dissimilarity perceptions directly in theory testing, and examining the antecedents of dissimilarity perceptions. The results, based on two field studies using diverse samples, demonstrate the effects of enduring personality traits of Extraversion and Agreeableness on an individual's perceived deep-level dissimilarity to coworkers in the workgroup, and the effects of perceived deep-level dissimilarity beyond the effects of actual dissimilarity and perceived surface-level dissimilarity on critical work outcomes, including the individual's overall job attitude, and behaviors of helping, work withdrawal, and actual voluntary turnover.

Hot shots and cool reception? An expanded view of social consequences for high performers

While high performers contribute substantially to their workgroups and organizations, research has indicated that they incur social costs from peers. Drawing from theories of social comparison and conservation of resources, we advance a rational perspective to explain why high performers draw both intentional positive and negative reactions from peers and consider how cooperative work contexts moderate these effects. A multisource field study of 936 relationships among 350 stylists within 105 salons offered support for our model and an experiment with 204 management students constructively replicated our findings and ruled out alternative explanations. Results indicated that peers offered more support and also perpetrated more undermining to high performers. Paradoxical cognitive processes partly explain these behaviors, and cooperative contexts proved socially disadvantageous for high performers. Findings offer a more comprehensive view of the social consequences of high performance and highlight how peer behaviors toward high performers may be calculated and strategic rather than simply reactionary